Cleanup from holiday storms lingers

Cleanup from holiday windstorms in northern Nevada continues to ripple through the region's economy and may affect some businesses well into the summer.

Insurance companies are beginning to wind down their emergency claims operations.

State Farm, which handled 4,500 claims totaling $6.5 million from the storm mostly homeowner claims says it's 95 percent wrapped up.

Allstate, meanwhile, says it's 99 percent completed with its nearly 3,000 storm-related claims.

Roofers and sign companies, however, still have a lot of work ahead.

"We're getting caught up, but we're still way behind," said Ken Dillon, president of D&D Roofing and Sheet Metal in Reno.

His company handled 3,500 service calls between the mid-December storms and the end of January.

That six-week workload is triple the number of service calls the company usually expects in a year.

While the winter season often is slow for roofing companies, Dillon said storm-related jobs likely will carry into summer and the effects probably will be felt throughout the year.

The jobs D&D Roofing schedules during quiet winter months, meanwhile, have been delayed.

"My superintendent has been trying to do equipment maintenance for three months," he said.

It's a similar story at Young Electric Sign Co., where Division Manager Bill Barlow said service crews continue to work extra hours every day, extra shifts continue to be scheduled and crews that ordinarily would be installing new signs instead are working to repair wind damage.

While customers have needed to exercise patience, Barlow said, "They've been terrific." Young Electric Sign expects to be caught up within a couple of weeks.

Things are beginning to return to normal, meanwhile, at The Sign Service Ltd.

Lyn Ainsworth, an administrative assistant at the company, said many of the storm-related jobs still on the books have been delayed because of insurance questions.

The big load of storm-related work means some positions particularly roofing jobs are tough to fill.

"I wish we had more qualified applicants for these jobs," said Peggy Bolesta at the state employment department.

She said starting pay for roofers is about $8 an hour, and top hands are commanding as much as $24 an hour.

The availability of work also has drawn fly-by-night operators into town.

"Anyone with a pickup truck and a hammer becomes a contractor," said Dillon.

Those firms may be impossible to track down if their work proves to be shoddy, Dillon said, and that means a homeowner might face the unpleasant reality of paying for a roof a second time this time, without the help of an insurance check.

At the bare minimum, Dillon said, people hiring a roofing contractor should check the contractors' license, city license and workers compensation coverage.

What happens if an uninsured roofer falls and brings a lawsuit? "He can end up owning your house," Dillon said.